In a stunning move, hip hopper and educator Random, aka Mega Ran and
Lost Perception present BLACK MATERIA: Final Fantasy VII, a Hip-Hop
album using tunes from Square’s hit game.

Ran’s new 16 track album releases 14 years to the date that the Final
Fantasy 7 game launched in Japan and sent the world into a frenzy. The
production on the album will be handled by Lost Perception, a veteran
hip-hop producer from Phoenix who shares an equal love for Final Fantasy
and Hip-Hop.

Since 2007, Random has built an amazing presence, reputation and fanbase
by sampling video game tunes and adding original lyrics and driving
beats to them, attracting fans in both the video game and hip-hop
communities. Random and K-Murdock’s Forever Famicom album dropped last
Summer, and has been a huge hit, propelling tours and appearances in
Nintendo Power, Wired and other magazines.

Final Fantasy VII (FF7), released in 1997 by Square, has since sold over
9 million copies worldwide, and is widely considered by many to be the
greatest game of all time, and one that has revolutionized role playing
games (RPGs) forever. Random agrees, and knows he can’t let the diehard
fans down.

“Final Fantasy 7 is THE game that got me back into console gaming,” Ran
says, after college life at had taken him away from video games for
years. “I’ve never to this day been as emotionally invested into a game
as I was with FF7, and doubt I will be again.” My heart will always be
in 8-bit, but I just wanted to give back to (FF7 creator Nobuo) Uematsu
and co. for creating a masterpiece.”

Ran usually alternates between heavier themes and video game topics in
his music, as his last two releases, "Forever Famicom" and "Heroes,
Volume One" demonstrated. The first single, “Aerith” is a heartbreaking
tale retelling one of the most shocking moments in videogame history,
the death of Aeris/Aerith, a playable character in the FF7 game.